Internal-combustion engine.



P. SPRANGBR. INTERNAL OOKBUSTION ENGINE. APPLIOATII TILBD APB. 25. 1911.

1,071,967. Patend sept.' 2,1913..A A

8 SEBBTHHEET l.

P. SPRANGER.

INTERNAL GOMBUSTION ENGINE. v

APPLICATION FILED APB. 25. l1911.

Patented Sept 24,1913l a BEEET B-BEBE 2. Fgf

P. SPRANGER.

INTERNAL GOMBUSTION ENGINE.

PLIOATION FILED APRES. 1911.

Patented Sept. 2, 1913.

a SHEETS-SHEET 3.

PAUL SPRANGEB, 0l' GEM-Bm, GERMANY.

m'rnananoonusrxox amm lpeetleatton ot Letters Intent.

Patented sept. 2, 1913.

Application Med April $5, 1911. Serial No. 683,195.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL Sruxoan, superintendent, of Gera-Reuss, in the German Empire, a subject of the Prince of Gera-Reuss, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

'Ihe invention relates to internal combustion or explosion engines having a rotary slide valve for the purpose of controlling the admission and exhaust ports, and consists in arranging the admission and exhaust ports separately and insuch a manner that they are distributed over the whole circumference of the cylinder liner or sleeve and over the whole surface of the liner head, respcctively, and to co-act with corresponding openings in the cylinder and the cylinder head respectively.

A second object of this invention is to provide a suitable drive for the sleeve, the movement of which is intermittent.

Prior to this invention explosion and combustion engines have been provided with a rotary slide valve extending over the whole surface of the cylinder traversed by the piston for the purpose of controlling the admission and exhaust, but the arrangement of the admission and exhaust porte as heretofore proposed presents many objections,

which greatly limit the scope of or the applicabilty of such rotary valves. Hitherto the arrangement has been such that a single port in the convex surface or in the head of the slide valve cooperates with an admission and an exhaust port so that the working mixture and the exhaust gases pasa through this single port. This has a great disadvantage in that there is a continuous change in the temperature at this place and the charge entering the cylinder becomes heated owing to the heat given to the cylinder walls by the exhaust. All these disadvantages are removed by the present invention, according to which the admission and exhaust ports are arranged separately and in such a manner that the charge is admitted at the coldest part of the engine and the hot exhaust gases pass oil' at the hottest place. This se arate' arrangement of the ports has the furt er advantage, hereinafter explained more in detail, that the sleeve has to be rotated only during the stage of lowest internal pressure, while it is at rest during the compression, ex losion and expansion stages. This method ci) rotating the sleeve is attained by means of a simple operatin device, a distributing cam with a pre etermined guide curve on its face.

One construction according to the present invention is shown in the accompanying drawing wherein,-

Figure 1 is a vertical section of the cylinder, Fig. 2 a horizontal section of the c linder with the distributing cam in plan. Iig. 2'* is a vertical sectional view through the cylinder, the valve sleeve being removed, taken substantially on the line A--A of Fig. 2". Fi 2" is a horizontal section on the line B of Fi 2a. Fig. 3 is a lan of the cam itself. Big. 4 a diagram 0 the developed cam with curve in plan. Fig. 5 a diagram of the curve and Fig. 6 a diagram of a modified form of curve. Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. Q showing a different relative adustment of the actuating cam and valve sleeve.

As seen from the drawings, within the cylinder there is a sleeve a., which is provided near its upper end with the lateral admission ports a', distributed equally over the whole of the circumference, while in the upper end plate or head thereof are formed the exhaust rts a which are also distributed equa ly over the whole area and communicate with the exhaust passage g in the cylinder head through orts g. The inlet ports a coperate with ports h arranged in the same manner and to the same number in the cylinder wall, and the parts q' in the cylinder head correspond in numand arrangement with the exhaust ports in the end plate of the sleeve. ln this manner the admission and exhaust gases are given passages of large cross section thus greventi an unintentional throttling. esides t is, this arrangement of admission and exhaust ports enables the cylinder casing to be cooled at theA admission port by the mixture of air and gas while the head of the linder and the exhaust ports are water-coo ed as by means of a suitable water jacket w, an extension of which surrounds a portion of the casing for the expansion chamber, and asalready mentioned the mixture sup ly pipe or conduit t passes around this coo er part. Since the sleeve remains stationary durlng the eompressioil and expansion periods, the admission ports in the cylinder are protected from the heat, while its own admission ports arest against the water cooled walls of the cylinder.

The parts of the cylinder head warmed through the slots in the end plate of the sleeve are covered during the admission of fresh charge by the solid part of the end of the sleeve until compression. On the commencement of the latter, equalization of heat occurs which gives up the remaining heat of the hot compression chamber to the charge until the temperature is equalized. Therefore while the sleeve is protected and the water cooled surfaces on the cylinder head and a part of the expansion chamber reduced to a minimum, the smallest surface is given to the explosion gases for giving up heat to the cooling water and essentially only the exhaust is cooled. Owing to the equal distribution of the ports, that is an equal number of ports in the sleeve and in the cylinder surrounding the same for the admission and exhaust, it is possible to rotate the casing through a small angle during a complete cycle, this angle being naturally dependent on the number of slots. the sleeve is rotated only during the admission and exhaust periods because the path which it has to traverse during the whole four stroke cycle is very small, the movement of the former is intermittent.

In order 110W to obtain a suitable drive for the sleeve the following arrangement has been devised. At the lower part of the rotary sleeve rollers e are arranged, being loosely journaled on studs or pins projecting from the sleeve. A cam roller b mounted on a shaft c engages with these rollers through its guide curve. These guide curves are so constructed that at the beginning and at the end of the movement two rollers are in engagement with the cam roller. This relative position of the actuating cam and sleeve at the commencement or termination of each intermittent movement of the sleeve is shown particularly in Fig. 7. It will be observed that as the cam shaft turns in the direction of the arrow a: that it not only acts to im art rotary movement to the sleeve a in the direction of the arrow y, but also exerts a pressure or pull in a direction longitudinally of said sleeve and away from the head of the engine cylinder.

At the beginning of each movement of the sleeve it willbe seen that the following forces are acting thereon, namely:

1. The pressure of the nearly expanded gaseous mixture which acts to press the sleeve against the cylinder head.

2. A force resulting from the form of the cam b. The guide grooves in said cam are of such contour that it is inclined to the horizontal plane at an angle of about 45 Since.

so that while they horizontal component of the force exerted thereby turns the sleeve the vertical component will exert a pressure in the direction of the length of the cylinder as above stated. This results in pressing all of the rollers on the cylinder against their bearings and thus acts in effect to move the sleeve from the cylinder head. This arrangementpermits of the sleeve ,being very readily turned and it will be seen that if the cam shaft were rotated in the opposite direction from that indicated it would be difiicult to start the rotary movement of the sleeve as the vertical component of the turning force would be added to the pressure resulting from the expansion in the explosion chamber.

In this manner the piston casing is simultaneously with the rotation raised from the exhaust ports in the cylinder casing, without affecting the air tight joints for the exhaust slots during the working periods. The movement is started as soon as the exhaust is to be opened and continues beyond the closing of 'these exhaust ports, followed by the opening of the admission ports which may slightly overlap with the closing of the exhaust, until the admission ports are closed.

As seen from Fig. 6 the possibility is afforded of constructing the guide curve as desired so that the rotation of the casing need not occur with constant angular velocity. For example there might be a rapid opening of the exhaust with a subsequent slow overlappin ofthe exhaust ports. Toward the end o the exhaust period, a ain, there may be a more rapid closing o the exhaust ports and a more rapid opening of the admission ports and then again a slow overlappin of the admission orts until the more rapi closing of the a mission ports occurs. But in any case the sleeve is always stationary during explosion and expansion `periods until the distribution starts again. In this manner it is possible that a-move ment of the distributing sleeve occurs only when there is a sli ht excess of or deficiency in the pressure and movement and vice versa, as a so the accelerating and retarding during the movement is effected gradually and without any shock. rIn all positions the sleeve is held in the position predetermined by the cam or guide curve and its movement at all times is compulsory. This method of driving from below has the effect that at the beginning of the exhaust the admission slots overlap more. As soon, however, as compression occurs, the distributing sleeve is pressed against the seat of the exhaust ports and is not released therefrom until the beginning of the exhaust. The natural elasticity of the cylindrical walls is sufficient to make a gastight joint. It should finally be mentioned that naturally additional exhaust openings the passa e from rest to can be arranged at the lower end of the paths of the piston which, however, does not affect thc essential of the invention.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder having a plurality of admission ports, arranged in a circular series extending entirely about the cylinder, and a plurality of exhaust ports arranged in a circle of less diameter than and in a different transverse plane from that. of the admission ports, a sleeve having formed therein two series of ports corresponding in number and relative arrangement to the admission and exhaust ports of the cylinder, and means for rotating the sleeve to open and close the cylinder ports.

2. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder having a plurality of admission ports, arranged in a circular series extending about the cylinder, and a plurality of exhaust ports arranged in a circle in the end wall of the cylinder head, a sleeve having ports corresponding in number and relative arrangement to said admission and exhaust ports, and means for rotating the sleeve to open and close the cylinder ports. 3. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder having a plurality of admission ports, arranged in a circular series extending entirely about the cvlinder, and a plurality of exhaust ports also arranged in a circle. a rotary sleeve controlling the opening and closing of said cylinder ports, and means for intermittently rotating said sleeve whereby it is held stationary during the compression, explosion and expansion stages of operation and moved only during the period of lowest internal pressure within the cylinder.

4. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder having a plurality of admission ports, arranged in a circular series extending about the cylinder, and a plurality of exhaust ports also arranged in a circle, a sleeve provided with two series of ports corresponding in relative arrangement to the admission and exhaust ports of the cylinder, and a rotary cam arranged to coperate with a series of outwardly extending projections on said sleeve, whereby the sleeve will be intermittently rotated to control the opening and closing of the cylinder ports.

5. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder having a plurality of admission ports, arranged in a circular series extending about the cylinder, and a plurality of exhaust ports also arranged in a circle, a sleeve provided adjacent one end with two series of ports, corresponding in relative arrangement to the admission and exhaust ports of the cylinder, and adjacent its other end with a series of outwardly projecting studs, and a rotary cam coperating with said studs to intermittently rot-ate the sleeve to control the opening and closing of the cylinder ports.

6. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder` having a plurality of admission ports arranged in a circular series extending about its body and a plurality of exhaust ports arranged in a circle in its head, a sleeve having ports corresponding in number and relative arrangement to said admission and exhaust ports, a water jacket for cooling the head and adj acent portion of the body of the cylinder, and means for rotating the sleeve.

7. In an` internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder having a plurality of admission ports arranged in a circular series extending about its body and a plurality of exhaust ports arranged in a circle in its head, a sleeve having ports corresponding in number and relative arrangement to said admission and exhaust ports, a water jacket for cooling the head and adjacent portion of the body of the cylinder, the mixture supply conduit extending about the cylinder immediately adjacent to the end of the water jacket, and means for rotating the sleeve adapted to maintain it stationary during the compression, explosion and expansion stages of operation and to shift it during the period of lowest internal pressure Within the cylinder.

8. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder having a plurality of admission ports arranged in a circular series extending about its body and a plurality of exhaust ports arranged in a circle in its head, a sleeve within the cylinder having in its side wall ports adapted to aline with admission ports in the cylinder and having its head provided with r orts adapted to aline With exhaust ports in the cylinder head, and means for intermittently rotating the sleeve adapted to exert pressure on the sleeve in a direction away from the cylinder head while moving it about the cylinder axis.

This specification signed and witnessed this 11th day of April 1911.

HENRY HASPER, WoLDnMAR HAUPT. 

